


Remedial Pharmacology

by DeadBart



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Angst, Background Britta/Troy, Based very loosely on a real experience, F/M, Fluff, Recreational Drug Use, Secret Relationship, The Secret Key, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24306748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadBart/pseuds/DeadBart
Summary: Annie has a weird night on her 22nd birthday. Jeff is there to help.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Comments: 5
Kudos: 108





	Remedial Pharmacology

**Author's Note:**

> This fic meant to be broadly canon-compliant (Jeff and Annie secretly dating during season 4 does work if you squint). This is set during winter break of the group's fourth year at Greendale.

It was Annie’s 22nd birthday. The one after the big one. Like the previous year, they’d gone to the bar she liked despite Britta’s protests that it was a twee hipster quasi-cafe and then drifted back to the apartment after close. Shirley had excused herself around 11 to help Andre with the kids, so they were down to six.

Annie shrugged Jeff’s coat off and carefully hung it up in the closet, mindful of the nervous glances he’d been giving her since he’d lent it to her on the way back from the bar. She wasn’t sure if he was more nervous about the act revealing the relationship they’d decided to keep private or about the possibility of wrinkles and stains.

They sat down next to each other on the couch as the group gathered in the chairs assembled by the TV. Troy waved Britta over to his usual comfy chair and pulled up a pair of chairs from under the table for himself and Abed. Pierce had needed no invitation to take the other good chair.

Annie glanced at her phone. It was around 1:30am, December 20th. No longer technically her birthday.

“What now?” Abed asked, “Anyone up for a game?”

“Abed if you try to get us to play one of your complicated board games with plastic robots or cards with wizards on them at 1 in the morning I’m jumping out the window.” Jeff declared with a groan.

“Fine, but you’re really missing out on the new Mages & Mechs expansion pack, Jeff.” Abed responded.

Britta started digging in her bag.

“Ah hah!” she declared, producing a bong that seemed too large to have been hiding in the small backpack she’d left at the apartment. “I’ve got some really good weed if anyone wants to hit.”

Troy narrowed his eyes.

“You didn’t get it from Starburns did you? That dude should call his weed ‘Oops! All Stems!’”

“No no.” Britta shook her head. “Vaughn came back to town to visit his parents for the holidays and I bought it off him. This is prime hacky sack champ weed. From Delaware.”

“The jewel of the East.” Pierce intoned.

“Nice.” Abed said approvingly.

“Britta I think you’re the first person to ever announce ‘From Delaware’ like its a selling point.” Jeff prodded with a chuckle.

Annie shifted uncomfortably next to him. She knew the others occasionally smoked (none nearly as much as Britta), but she’d never had more than a hastily exhaled drag from a joint shared with a now (and probably then) gay high school boyfriend. She had never had a problem with drinking, but something about marijuana dragged her back to elementary school screenings of cartoons where Alvin and the Chipmunks watched disapprovingly as shrivelling teens inhaled spiralling plumes of poison smoke at the urging of grinning pushers. Painful memories of her mother spitting the ugly words “DRUG ADDICT” at her cut even deeper than the 90s-era Reefer Madness DARE campaign propaganda.

Jeff had noticed her staring down at her knees. He subtly put a hand on her back.

“You don’t have to.” he said, keeping his voice low and discrete while Troy passed the bong to Abed and Pierce argued with Britta about whether or not he could “be cool” and how much stronger weed was now.

“I don’t want to be a downer.” Annie whispered back, clasping and unclasping her hands nervously.

“You won’t be. They’re your friends. And once they’re high you’ll be funny whether you’re high too or not. And if you don’t want to, I won’t either.” Jeff assured her.

“I don’t want you to not do things because of me.” she said quietly.

“God Annie, I don’t care.” Jeff laughed, “Not doing things is my favourite thing to do.”

Annie looked up at him, taking in the easy, crooked smile. A feeling of safety washed over her. From most people, “I don’t care.” sounded harsh and dismissive. From Jeff it always felt like a carefully crafted antidote for her anxieties. Even with other close friends, she constantly worried that she was being annoying or fussy and driving them crazy, but he just never seemed to mind anything. Unlike her, he had no real plans beyond graduating Greendale and finding a job. There was no 15 year strategy for his life. And yet he didn’t seem lost. She envied that and took comfort in it. Even if everything fell apart and she flunked out of school and went broke she felt certain he’d turn up and catch her with that same stupid grin on his face. She took the little risk of holding his hand for a moment and looked over at Abed.

“Can I?” she asked. Abed nodded and handed her the bong and lighter. She worried for a moment that she’d look stupid trying to work it, but she flashed back to the many terrible Seth Rogan comedies Troy had subjected her to and pulled it off like a pro. Two deep rips and she passed it off to Jeff. He stared at her, a little bemused. She gave him a silent thumbs up.

Annie felt the physical sensation almost immediately. She felt warm and kind of heavy, but not in an unpleasant way. She allowed herself to slide down and lean on Jeff’s shoulder, safe in the knowledge that any indiscretion on their part would be written off as an effect of the weed the next day. So far so good.

By the time she stopped focusing on her internal feelings and started looking back at the others, Pierce was already handing the bong back to Britta while loudly coughing.

“I really think you might die if you don’t take it easy, man.” Troy teased. Pierce furrowed his brow in offense.

“Oh what do you kids know? Back in the 60s I used to drop stuff that would make your head pop like a grape. I met these girls in LA once who-”

“Pierce please do not tell the Manson girl story again it freaks me out.” Britta interjected, passing the bong back to Troy. He was staring at her adoringly, looking kind of dumb in the haze of the buzz he was now settling into. Britta clearly found it endearing as she planted a light kiss on him before telling him to snap out of it. Annie smiled and interlaced her fingers with Jeff’s.

“Tell the story with Reagan and your dad at the Bohemian Grove.” Abed suggested. “Its got some rich imagery. I’d love to mine it for story ideas.”

Pierce launched into a disturbing narrative about the misuse of moist towelettes. Annie found the bong being passed back to her. Jeff looked down at her.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah I’m good. In for a penny in for a pound, you know?” she inhaled deeply and passed the bong to Jeff, who burned out the last dregs of Britta’s stupendous Delaware strain. He wrapped an arm around her and she pulled her feet up on the couch, laying with her head on his chest. Britta raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

For some reason, Annie felt this brief moment extend, as if it had gone on a for a minute rather than a second. She began to feel very self-conscious. A memory of telling a joke at a high school party and being stared at silently began to feel as real and present as the view of her friends in front of her. She hoped the others couldn’t hear her breath quickening over the sound of Pierce continuing his story.

Jeff was a little slower and spacier than he’d been a minute ago, but he had noticed her dip into anxiety. He tilted her head up gently, their blue eyes meeting despite her lightly fluttering eyelids.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a little more firmly than the last time he’d checked in.

“I don’t know. Am I being weird?” Annie frowned. Her eyes flicked toward the others, feeling as if all of their eyes were on her. Only Abed seemed to have actually noticed her distress. Troy and Britta were listening intently to the sordid ending of Pierce’s tall tale.

“You’re not being weird. I mean you’re seeming like you’re not okay, but nobody thinks you’re weird.” Jeff said. “Do you want to go?”

“Go where?” Annie asked. They were already at her place. She could feel her heartbeat very distinctly. It wasn’t a good sensation. It made her feel very aware of her body in an uncomfortable way. Despite her confusion, she looked back up at Jeff and nodded an affirmative before he could answer her.

“Oh shit Vaughn is in town with his parents right?” Jeff started, giving her a little wink. “He’s got that thing you left in his car first year. You wanted to pick that up right?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Annie nodded slowly, playing along to the best of her ability.

“Alright I know he’s heading out to Denver for Christmas, so I can take you over there for it.” Jeff offered. Annie smiled mildly and nodded again.

“Okay cool see you later, Annie we love you!” Britta shouted in an endearingly obnoxious way.

Abed gave Jeff a questioning look and got a mouthed “It’s cool.” in response. He gave Jeff a subtle thumbs up.

Jeff took Annie by the hand and led her to the door, draping her in his big coat again. In a light daze, she found herself with him in the backseat of a cab and then entering his apartment. She looked around at the spartan decor and found herself returning to lucidity enough to make a mental note to redecorate when she had a chance.

Jeff offered her a glass of water, which she sipped slowly as she stared out of the window into the night for a moment. A few flashes of light accompanied motorists speeding by. Annie briefly seized on the weird idea that completely separate lives were marked by each of those washes of headlight shine. To those drivers she and Jeff were another isolated life. Silhouettes on an island of light in a sea of darkness. It was a stark thought, but the simplicity of it was comforting.

She loved her friends and her home, but it was nice to be alone here with Jeff now, listening as he tidied up some clutter from his coffee table. She let the gentle moment stretch out the way the anxious one had earlier, sinking into contentment.

Jeff walked over and kissed her on the head.

“I know we’re on vacation, but its nearly 3. You want to go to bed?” he asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Annie replied, downing the last of the water. “Thanks for tonight.”

“Don’t mention it. Its easy to get a little overwhelmed.” Jeff put an arm around her and paused for a moment, watching the passing lights.

“Its nice to be able to escape here.” Annie sighed.

“Oh that reminds me.” Jeff reached into the inside pocket of the large coat she was still wearing and produced a little key. A perfect twin to his apartment key. He slid it into her hand and closed her fingers around it. “Escape here anytime. Happy birthday.”

Annie pulled him down into a long, deep kiss, finding safety in this perfect escape.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes this is meant to be the secret key to Jeff's apartment referenced in the 2020 charity table read. I made a commitment to work it into a fic on Tumblr so here it is!


End file.
